It dawned on me just today that we are all here with a life sentence with no possibility for parole. It was a tremendously liberating realization that I can do the time. I’m closing in on 70, and I now know I can serve out my sentence and even enjoy it. That said, you can cut your time short by opting for early execution. Of course, there is the do-it-yourself form, and the ever popular do it by idiocy form so popularized by videos like Jackass. But the early death sentence can come from on high, as well.
The Warden may decide that it’s time for another super-volcano such as @MRSHINYSHOES & @digitalimpression allude to. Santorini is one of the world’s super-volcanoes, and its caldera is still active. But did you North American Jellies know that Yellowstone Park houses the largest volcanic caldera on the planet? It is active and showing signs of increased activity. The caldera floor is swelling upwards. It is overdue for a super eruption. When (not if) that comes, it will produce a nuclear winter of far greater magnitude than the Santorini eruption Many plant and animal species will go extinct. Billions of humans will freeze or starve. But humanity will probably adapt and go on.
An asteroid hit like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago would be more problematic. Something like ⅔rds of all species on earth perished in that cataclysmic event. An asteroid roughly the size and mass of Mount Everest, and traveling at around 40,000 MPH plunged into the Yucatan Peninsula at Chicxulub. creating firestorms over much of the earth’s surface The energy release was roughly 2 million times greater than the 50 megaton Tsar bomb, the largest nuclear device ever exploded by man. The dust cloud that created so thoroughly blocked the sun that many a species simply froze to death.
And then there is the Gamma Ray Burst. A GRB is the most powerful force known in the existing Universe. Only the Big Bang released more energy. Fortunately, the energy releases are highly columinated, so they do their damage in a tightly confined straight line. But anything within thousands of light years of ground zero is absolute toast.